State fitness test results show ‘destructive trend’ of childhood
obesity
Gilroy – Three out of four Gilroy students failed to pass a statewide physical fitness test, throwing into sharp relief the need for a change in physical education, according to the California Department of Education.
Of the nearly 1.4 million 5th, 7th and 9th grade students in California given the fitness test in April, just 27.5 percent could pass all six sections. Only 26.9 percent of students in Gilroy Unified School District passed the test, which assessed cardiovascular endurance, body fat, abdominal strength, trunk strength, upper body strength and overall flexibility.
“The 2006 (statewide) test scores show a modest 1 percent gain in overall performance compared to last year’s results,” said Jack O’Connell, state superintendent of public instruction, in a written statement. “These numbers tell us that too many of our students are leading sedentary lives exacerbated by poor eating habits. This is a destructive trend that has resulted in an epidemic of childhood obesity and must be reversed.”
Though GUSD’s 26.9 percent is still below the state average, it is a drastic improvement from last year’s 17 percent of students that passed the statewide test.
Brownell Middle School students scored highest on the six fitness standards with 44.4 percent of students passing all six parts of the test. Rucker Elementary School scored the lowest with a mere 6.8 percent passing.
“Our teachers have worked extremely hard on fitness standards and making sure our students meet those standards,” said Jim Gama, assistant principal at Brownell. “We made some changes to our (physical education) classes, and I think that’s why we did well on this test. That test is not the first time our students have done those exercises. They practice things like push-ups well before the test.”
Push-ups, pull-ups, sit-ups and a timed one-mile run are all part of the fitness test.
Though Brownell students soared over the state average on the fitness test, Laurie Avey, a P.E. teacher at the school, said she and her colleagues still had a lot of work to do.
“Are we satisfied that less than half our students passed? No,” she said. “Is it going to change overnight? No. But are we going to focus on taking small steps forward and improving our numbers? Yes.”
P.E. teachers everywhere are fighting societal issues such as video game saturation, sedentary lifestyles and fast food-heavy diets, Avey said.
She and fellow P.E. teachers Jeff Ross and Dylan Fullington have implemented a buddy system during class so that students excelling at fitness standards helped students struggling with them. There has also been an effort by school administrators to encourage students to dress in their P.E. uniforms and prepare for fitness exams with pretests.
According to the American Heart Association, 15 percent of American children between the ages of 6 and 11 are obese.
Administrators at Rucker Elementary School did not return calls to comment on their fitness test results.
